Tadgh McNally: Falling short can cost candidates thousands
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As counts continue in both the Midlands North West and Ireland South European constituencies, there will be plenty of candidates who sought election that will not be getting their deposits or expenses back.
They may have poured thousands upon thousands of euros into their campaigns, littering the countryside and towns with posters and leaflets, but fail to recoup any of their costs as they do not meet the requirements for a rebate.
The highest profile example of this is the Social Democrats Dublin candidate, Sinéad Gibney, who fell just a few hundred votes short of receiving her deposit and expenses back.
In the wake of her elimination in Dublin, Ms Gibney told RTÉ that she was “devastated” and that it was “gut-wrenching” not to receive her expenses back — with the candidate having sold her car to finance her candidacy.
“You always know it’s a risk and, unfortunately, it’s come to pass," she said.
"The impact on me personally is tough, because I put a lot on the line for this election. I sold my car to raise my own candidate investment.”
Alongside this, Ms Gibney raised over €15,000 as part of her campaign — which is unable to be returned to those who donated.
The Social Democrats candidate said that, without returning her expenses, it would be more difficult for her to launch a campaign for the Dáil.
With so many candidates likely to lose out, what exactly are the requirements for being reimbursed?
Under the Electoral Act 1997, a candidate is required to put forward a deposit of €1,800 to secure their position on the ballot paper.
However, this may only then be reimbursed if the candidate can garner enough votes during counting to hit at least a quarter of the quota.
Candidates are also able to reclaim up to €64,400 worth of allowable election expenses — mainly covering advertising, publicity expenditure, costs of an election agent as well as election posters and leaflets.
An example of this, in Dublin, the quota a candidate was required to reach to be deemed elected was 75,345 votes. This means that the target that was required to be exceeded to have expenses returned was 18,836 votes.
Any candidate seeking to use these expenses are required to submit returns to the Standards in Public Office Commission within 56 days of election day.
Under the current laws, it is an offence for a candidate or their agent to either exceed these limits or not submit their accounts to the commission.
While the limit for expenses is €64,400, candidates are permitted to spend up to €230,000 on their campaigns in a European Parliament election.
In local elections, the spending limit depends on the population of the local electoral area. If a local electoral area has over 35,000 people living in it, the highest spending is €15,350.